LOBELIACEAE, the Lobelia Family 



Herbs with alternate simple leaves and milky juice; flowers ir- 

 regular; petals 5, united; corolla split down the upper side; stamens 

 5, united by their anthers into a ring or tube surrounding the style; 

 ovary 2-celled, inferior. Flowers in summer and autumn. 



la. Leaves all basal, tubular; flowers on leafless stalks (aquatic, 1 4 

 dm. high; flowers blue) Water Lobelia, Lobelia dortmanna. 



Ib. Leaves normal, on the stem 2. 



2a. Flowers more than 2 cm. long (5 10 dm. high) 3. 



2b. Flowers about 1 cm. long, or shorter (flowers light blue) 4. 



3a. Flowers scarlet Cardinal Flower, Lobelia eardinalis. 



3b. Flowers blue Great Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica, 



4a. Flowers in loose racemes, pedicelled 5. 

 4b. Flowers in slender terminal spike-like racemes, nearly ses- 

 sile (4 10 dm. high, usually unbranched) 



Lobelia, Lobelia spicata. 



5a. Foliage pubescent (3 8 dm. high) 



Indian Tobacco, Lobelia inflata. 

 5b. Foliage glabrous (14 dm. high) Lobelia, Lobelia kalmii. 



COMPOSITAE, the Composite Family 



Herbs, with various types of foliage, but with flowers of charac- 

 teristic structure, resembling a sunflower, a thistle, or a dandelion. 

 Each apparent flower is a head of numerous small flowers, attached 

 side by side to the expanded end of the stem, and subtended and partly 

 enclosed by a series of bracts, called the involucre, which resembles 

 a calyx. 



The calyx of the individual flower is minute or actually wanting, 

 and is usually modified to aid in seed dispersal. It appears at the base 

 of the corolla, at the summit of the inferior ovary, and is known as 

 pappus. The structure of the pappus is best observed in the ripe fruit. 



The corolla of the individual flowers consists of 5 (or rarely 4) 

 united petals. In some flowers the petals are united to form a tubular 

 or bell-shape corolla. In others they are united to form a flat or 

 strap-shape corolla. The stamens are attached to the corolla, and 

 are united by their anthers into a tube which surrounds the style, 

 and above which the 2-lobed stigma protrudes. 



The apparent flower of a Composite, composed of several or many 

 individual flowers, is termed a head. It may be composed entirely of 

 tubular flowers, as the thistle or bone-set; or entirely of strap-shape 

 flowers, as the dandelion; or of both sorts together, as the aster or 

 sunflower. In the latter case, the tubular flowers invariably occupy 

 the center of the head, called the disk, and the larger strap-shape 

 flowers are at the margin, where their projecting corollas, called rays, 

 may be very conspicuous. Such heads are called radiate. 



